


Weakness

by curiousscientistkae



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Glimadora - Freeform, Glimmadora - Freeform, Implied abuse, Mild Blood, ill explain everything in the notes, kind of glimmadora also
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 22:52:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17734169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiousscientistkae/pseuds/curiousscientistkae
Summary: The Horde taught Adora many things. Some good but many bad. Lots of it was drilled into her mind, never to be forgotten any time soon. This does not bode well one day during a battle.





	Weakness

**Author's Note:**

> So this was suppose to be more Glimmadora fic but turned into more of a Adora's past fic (sort of). There still is some Glimmadora don't worry. Hopefully it still turned out alright because of it. TW tho, there is some like I guess mentions of abuse. Not like physical but just like...idk yeah just be aware some bits have a bit of that. 
> 
> ALSO! I've been meaning to say for a while now that I do read all y'all's comments I just...don't know what to usually say but I do read them all btw.

The first thing Adora remembers being drilled into her head as a young child in the Horde was  _ Never show weakness.  _ No matter how many times you are beaten down, no matter how much pain you are in, no matter the injuries, unless you are  _ dead _ you have to fight. Yes, the Horde makes sure you didn’t straight up die, they still need soldiers. But if you are out in the battlefield, they want you to keep fighting no matter what. Adora remembers it being the first lesson she ever learn. 

One of the most vivid memories Adora has of this lesson is when she was about ten maybe eleven. The details are a little fuzzy, a blow to the head will do that to you, but she remembers pain shooting through her leg. She remembers her commander yelling at her to get up. She remembers that pain every time she moved. Hot, seering, and feeling like a million needles where being forced into her body. Adora remembers wanting to cry but knowing that was not allowed.

The next thing she remembers after was someone patching her up. A broken leg and a concussion. The Horde fixed her up, can’t have your star pupil be wounded too long after all but even then she had to find something to do. Something to work on.

This mindset still stays wedged into her mind as she fights for the Rebellion. It is fresh in her mind as she fights her former family. It is all she can think of as she looks down at herself after taking down a soldier.

She-ra’s white clothing turns bright red. She has no idea where the wound begins or end. She has no idea when she got the injury. That doesn’t matter at the moment. There is no time to stop and think or attend to herself. The battle is still waging on. Adora can’t let them take over another village. Without second thought, Adora lunges back into the fray.

Adrenaline pumps through her veins, keeping her on her feet. She and the others gain the upper hand and push the Horde back. They run away with their tails tucked between their legs. Another day won. Another day to breathe for a moment.

When the last Horde soldier disappears behind the treeline, Adora reverts back to her normal self. She braces herself on a broken tank. Looking once more, the lower half of her jacket is a deep red. Adora clutches her side. Pain spreads throughout her lower abdomen. She grits her teeth, focusing on keeping her vision clear.

Even if the battle is over, danger still hangs in the air. Not until they return to the castle can Adora rest. Still, Adora doesn’t want Glimmer and Bow to know she is hurt. She hates being fussed over. She will be fine, she always is. Her commanders voices echo in her mind.

_ Never show weakness. _

_ If you show weakness, you cannot call yourself a soldier. You are nothing. _

_ You must fight no matter what or you will face punishment. Weakness is not allowed here. _

“Hey! Adora!” A voice shouts. It sounds distant. Adora turns her head and sees her friends walking over. Or at least, the colors of them. They are closer than their voices are.

Adora opens her mouth to say something but her words have vanished. Colors mix together as blackness creeps from the edges. Her body suddenly feels like a piece of lead. Try as she might, she slips off the tank and her vision becomes dark.

_ Adora!...wake up!...help Bow! _

_...to Brightmoon...act fast! _

Their voices are still so distant. Adora struggles to focus on them, focus on  _ something _ but slowly she can no longer hear them. For a brief time, all she feels, sees, and hears is nothing. Nothing back blackness.

Suddenly, something starts to form. She finds herself back in one of the classrooms at the Fright Zone. All the shapes around of her have blurry edges to them. Adora feels out of place. A strange feeling for being at home.

Adora looks around the classroom. All her classmates look straight ahead at the chalkboard. Even Catra focuses her mismatched eyes forward. What is going on?

Heavy footsteps echoing off the walls catches her attention. Adora snaps her head around and her body stiffness. The strictest teacher in the Horde steps into the classroom. Despite a small stature, the air around her makes her larger than life. She is half the size of most adults in the Horde yet every time Adora sees her, it feels like she towers over them.

Scars litter her body. Under her right, mechanical arm, she carries a large stack of papers. She drops them on the desk and turns to face her students. Her signal, cold, ice blue eye scans the classroom, searching for any signs of fear. It lands on Adora.

Adora’s heart skips beats in her chest. Her throat becomes like a noose and tightens as her teacher slowly walks over to her. Adora feels beads of sweat forming on her skin and when did it get so hot in here?

Her teacher stops an inch away from Adora’s desk. Her presence pushes down on Adora, nearly crushing her. Adora gulps, trying to find words to speak. Even harder, she barely manages to speak without breaking any of her words. “Yes, sir?”

The teacher doesn’t say anything right away. She looks over around, studying every inch of her frozen body. Finally, she speaks. Her voice is chiller than the coldest simulations Adora hs been through.

“Tell me, young cadet, what is the number one rule here at the Horde?”

Adora blanks. She has repeated the rules in her mind almost everyday, where did they go. She digs through her mind, struggling to find it. The rule is just  _ gone _ .

“I-uh...I know this! I...I…”

_ SLAP! _

Adora flinches. The teacher slowly pulls her ruler off of Adora’s desk. A sinister grin is on her face. Adora quickly realizes why she is smirking. She lives to knock Adora down and flinching just gave her the chance to do so.

“Never show weakness. Not with flinching, not with stuttering, and never with any wounds you received.”

Without warning, she reaches over the desk and presses her ruler, hard, on Adora’s side. Adora holds back a cry. Shouldn’t give her more reason to torture her. The teacher draws her hand back, yet, the pain stays.

Adora looks down at her stomach. Her white uniform has become red. What is going on? Another snap to her desk brings her attention back on the teacher.

“Couldn’t even stay on your feet? What type of soldier are you? Weakness leads to failure and dead comrades. You don’t want that, do you?”

“N-No!”  _ Crap. _

“Some perfect soldier you are. You’re weakness will only end in misery and it will be your fault.”

_ This has to be a dream. This can’t be real. What is happening? Nothing makes sense. Come on, Adora, wake up. Wake up. _

She can’t breathe. Her heart races in her chest. This isn’t good. She can’t let the teacher see her crumbling. Adora can barely hold it in, she feels like everything is about to come flooding out. This has to be a dream, a nightmare more. This can’t be real.

**_Hey! Hey, Adora!_ **

The voice is familiar. Adora looks around, trying to find the owner. No one else is speaking. Is she going crazy?

**_Adora. Shhh. It’s okay. Relax! Relax. I’m here._ **

Adora’s body loosens. The voice is soft, comforting. Unlike the person staring her in the face.

All of a sudden, the blurry outlines take over, shifting everything into unknown shapes. Black follows suit and takes over. The next thing Adora knows, she feels herself laying down on something soft. She feels a new weight on her body, like every part of her is a thousands pounds. Her eyelids are the worse and Adora struggles to open them. Once she does, she finds everything once more a blur.

A groan escapes her lips. Where is she? Everything is such a fog. The only thing she is sure of is the shape looking down at her.

“Glim?” The word coming out is like a serrated knife on her throat. She winces and coughs.

“Don’t talk. Here,” Glimmer reaches over to a table and grabs a glass of water. Gingerly, she helps Adora drink a small amount. “Better?”

Adora nods. Glimmer places the glass back on the table.

“What...where am I?” Adora croaks out.

“You really need to rest. Don’t talk.”

Adora looks around. Medical supplies line the walls, Adora notices a plastic bag of something hanging by the side of the bed. Adora feels something wrapped around her abdomen and looking down, she finds herself dresses in unknown white clothing. A hospital room?

Adora attempts to sit up but barely makes it an inch off the bed when it feels like someone is stabbing her. She hisses, waiting for the pain to subside.

“ADORA! Don’t move! Please!” Glimmer shouts.

“I’m fine...I’m fine...Just sore…”

Her brain, still haunted by the voices of her teachers, tells her to get up. She shouldn’t be in bed when there is a war out and people needing you. She attempts again to sit up but quickly stopped by Glimmer. She doesn’t have to put much pressure down on Adora’s shoulder to keep her in place.

“ _ Stop! _ You can’t get up right now! You’ll only hurt yourself more!”

“I can’t sit here and do nothing when there is something I should be doing!”

“Yeah, you  _ should _ be resting! Especially after you kept going when you were hurt! What the hell were you thinking when you did that?”

“And you wouldn’t do the same? I had to do something!” Adora doesn’t even know what Glimmer is talking about, she just finds her anger taking over.

“This isn’t about me, Adora! You could’ve...you could’ve…”

Glimmer cannot finish her sentence. Tears form in her eyes and she looks away from Adora. Slowly, she lifts her hands up and crosses them across her chest. “Please just rest. It’s all I am asking from you.”

Adora is speechless. She cannot find any words to say to her. Adora just watches Glimmer sit down, still looking away from her. Any energy Adora had is now gone from her small struggle with Glimmer.

She still doesn’t want to stay in bed, however. It is not something she likes doing. But her body and Glimmer win. Adora blinks and the next thing she knows, daylight fills the room and Glimmer has been replaced.

“Bow?” Adora asks. The words are rough but nothing like last night.

Bow looks up from the book in his hands. “Oh! Hey! You’re awake! How are you feeling?”

“Like I got ran over by a tank a bunch of times. What happen?”

“You don’t remember?”

Adora thinks. Everything is a blur. She shakes her head.

“You got hurt, real bad, in a battle. Right after it was over you collapse and Glimmer and I raced you to get medical help. You’ve were out for over a day and only woke up last night.”

“I was out for a  _ day?!?”  _ Adora nearly snaps up but stops when her body yells at her. “Ack! Gods, that hurt.”

“Take it easy, Adora. You don’t want to reopen your wounds,” Bow tells her. He sits up from his chair and stands next to Adora’s bed.

“Can...Can you do me a favor?”

“Yeah?”

“Help me least sit up. I’m not going to try and get out of bed, Glimmer already scolded me for moving, but I just...want to not be on my back. “

“Okay. It’s gonna hurt, just so you know.”

Bow aids Adora sitting up. Adora bites her tongue as she is sits up off the bed. Once she is sitting upright and the pain fades away, her body relaxes and she sighs. “Thank you. What happened to Glimmer anyway?”

“Probably her room. She...is kind of taking this really hard. She isn’t happy you weren’t listening to her last night.”

“I told her, I am fine. I’m use to it and I can’t sit here and do nothing.”

Bow’s frowns. “Adora, you got pretty banged up. We had no idea if we were going to get you to safety in time but thankfully we did. You’re lucky.”

“But I am fine now, aren’t I? I am alive and I can still do things!”

“Not right now you can’t. This isn’t the Horde. And Adora, you’re brain still probably is trying to work stuff out but think for a second. Think why Glimmer could be so upset at you.”

Adora thinks. It is not just her memories about the battle that are foggy. Everything is in a thick haze. Pushing through the thickness, it finally comes to her and slaps her across the face.

She was close to dying. Dying in this never-ending war. Adora remembers while growing up people leaving and never coming back. She never really got to know them but even if she did, it wasn’t a close relationship. Adora always felt a pang of sadness but it never affected her that much. It wasn’t until Entrapta died did she finally understand death of a loved one and it’s overwhelming grief.

But Glimmer. Glimmer has not only lost Entrapta but her father as well and who knows who else. She doesn’t like to talk about it, too painful. Now Adora up and nearly got herself killed. Worse yet, her Horde mentality making her want to always be doing something no matter what and not stopping for injuries do not help. She messed up big time.

“I am such an idiot,” Adora says.

“I wouldn’t say that. You just forgot. But you understand now why you can’t just get up right now?” Bow asks her.

“Yeah. Sorry. It’s something I am trying to unlearn.”

“It’s alright. You gotta apologize to Glimmer, though. Once you are better unless she comes in again to see you but she was pretty upset. But do you promise to not try and get up until the doctors tell you so?”

“Yeah. Yeah I will and yes.”

It is hard to do that, though. Every part of tell her to get up and go do something like reading up strategies or what the enemy is doing. But she stays in her bed, listening to what she is told. For the next couple of days, doctors and nurses come in and out. Many of them help speed up her wounds with their magic and ease her pain. They help but tell her her body needs to heal the rest on its own, that their magic can only do so much.

As long as Adora can get out of bed soon, she could care less. She just wants out. Glimmer hasn’t stopped by at all to see her. Adora wonders if she is still mad at her but Bow reassures her that it is not that. Rather, she doesn’t like seeing loved ones lying in bed injured. Adora doesn’t blame her.

Finally, on the third day after talking to Bow, she finally is given the clear to ge out of bed. However, she still is told to stay out of the battlefield for the next couple of days. At least she is finally up.

The second she is able to get out of bed, Adora changes out of her hospital clothing and into more comfortable, and loose, clothing. Can’t get into her old clothes until her wounds are fully healed but at least she is out of the uncomfortable gown. Now time to find Glimmer.

The first place she looks is in her room. Nope. Library? No. Any of the training rooms? Can’t find her there. No where in the castle can Adora find her. All the walking around irritates her injuries but she doesn’t stop her search. She takes a moment to rest, however, and thinks where Glimmer is.  

Finally, she heads outside. At first, she doesn’t find her in any of the courtyards at first. Adora searches high and low for her and still turns up nothing. Just as she is about to give up, she remembers about a hidden courtyard. She heads in that direction. Thankfully, Glimmer is there.

Her back faces away from Adora. She sits by a small creek, staring at the running water. Adora slowly walks over to her. Glimmer looks up at Adora. Her eyes widen.

“Adora! What are you doing up? Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“Easy, easy. I just got discharged. Mind if I take a seat?”

“No. How are you feeling?”

“Better.” Adora finds a comfortable position on the grass. She takes a moment to speak, gathering her thoughts. “Look. I wanted to say, I’m sorry for the other night. And not listening to you and getting a little snappy. I guess I am still use to being told never to show weakness and to keep getting up even if you’re injured.”

“The Horde really drilled that into you, didn’t it?”

“Yeah. I still have nightmares about it and every time I get hurt it is all I can hear in my head. But I didn’t mean to upset you. Should have thought before I spoke. This war is horrible and the last thing I ever wanted to do is hurt you or have you worrying if I was going to be okay or not.”

“Thank you, Adora. And I can’t fully blame you. Both for the Horde stuff and you were probably out of it also. I’m just, glad you are safe. I’m sorry I was getting angry with you and didn’t talk to you for the past couple of days.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I needed you and Bow to remind me what I was doing wrong. I promise next time I get hurt, I’ll be more careful and to take it easier when healing.”

“I am going to hold you to that. You gonna be alright with taking it easy?”

“No, but I’ll manage. Sitting here with you is fine with me.”

A soft smile forms on Glimmer’s face. She gently places her hand on top of Adora’s. “Yeah. That’s fine with me also.”


End file.
